Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co Takes $2.02 Million Position in Mastercard Incorporated $MA

Alesco Advisors LLC An ESL Co bought a new stake in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,033 shares of the credit services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,015,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Mastercard by 820.0% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 46 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Strive Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Hyposwiss Advisors SA acquired a new stake in shares of Mastercard during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. First Pacific Financial boosted its position in shares of Mastercard by 113.8% during the 1st quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 62 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Mastercard by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 57 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 97.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Mastercard News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mastercard this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Al Etihad Payments announced the first co-badged Jaywan-Mastercard credit card, a new partnership that could expand Mastercard’s footprint in the UAE and support payment-network volume growth. Al Etihad Payments, Mastercard launch world’s first Jaywan-Mastercard co-badged credit card
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard was highlighted as a strong momentum stock, reinforcing the view that the company still has favorable fundamental and trading characteristics despite recent weakness. Here’s Why MasterCard (MA) is a Strong Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Mastercard and Lithic introduced a way to make small-business loan proceeds spend-ready, a payments-adjacent product that could deepen Mastercard’s role in SMB finance workflows. Lithic and Mastercard Make SMB Loans Ready to Spend

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Mastercard from $670.00 to $665.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Dbs Bank raised Mastercard to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Mastercard from $590.00 to $561.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Clear Str raised Mastercard to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Mastercard from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mastercard has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.92.

Mastercard Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of MA stock opened at $537.33 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $474.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.73. Mastercard Incorporated has a 12-month low of $464.52 and a 12-month high of $601.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $505.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $515.35.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The credit services provider reported $4.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.41 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.26 billion. Mastercard had a net margin of 45.88% and a return on equity of 212.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.73 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Mastercard’s dividend payout ratio is 20.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sandra A. Arkell sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $540.00, for a total transaction of $108,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,793,880. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,977 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.73, for a total value of $1,047,276.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 16,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,702,934.17. The trade was a 10.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,005 shares of company stock worth $3,689,976. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated is a global payments technology company that operates a network connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 200 countries and territories. The company facilitates electronic payments and transaction processing for credit, debit and prepaid card products carrying the Mastercard brand, while also providing a range of payment-related services to issuers, acquirers and merchants. Its technology and network enable authorization, clearing and settlement of payments and support a broad set of use cases including point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile payments.

Beyond core transaction processing, Mastercard offers a suite of value-added services such as fraud and risk management, identity and authentication tools, tokenization and digital wallet support, cross-border and commercial payment solutions, and data analytics and consulting services for merchants and financial partners.